Exclusive analysis of 540,000 wealthiest individuals in the UK shows effects of low capital gains tax

Richard Kelly’s unusual sci-fi drama made a star of Jake Gyllenhaal and introduced emo teens to a brave new worldMidway through Donnie Darko, a creative young English teacher played by Drew Barrymore repeats the old maxim – recycled over the years by linguists, scholars and writers including JRR Tolkien – that the simple, banal phrase “cellar door” is the most purely, pleasingly harmonious combination of words in the English language. There’s something to be said for that, but one wonders if writer-director Richard Kelly was offering a challenge to the claim by naming his protagonist Donnie Darko – an irresistible, perfectly ridiculous name for an ordinary suburban schoolboy that nonetheless encapsulates his fey, eccentric aura. His new girlfriend says the name aloud, lolling it like a mint in her mouth, before observing that it makes him sound like “some kind of superhero”. “What makes you think I’m not?” he replies, deadpan.Well, what indeed. Kelly’s sci-fi-tinted tale of adolescent isolation came out six months before Spider-Man, the film that kick-started the now all-consuming superhero movie revival, and the two have more in common than you might initially assume: both are stories of an awkward teenage boy coming to terms with what appear to be otherworldly abilities, and assuming responsibility for the world around them. For plucky Peter Parker, that means standard-issue feats of derring-do and defeating evil; for downcast Donnie Darko, it means ending and altering the very timeline in which he exists, ultimately dying so that others may live. As superhero origin stories go, it doesn’t have much franchise potential: Donnie’s legend begins and ends in one fell swoop. But it has an eerie, enduring power: would that many comic-book heroes’ stories were so noble and haunting and finite. Continue reading...

Bananas are in, ironing water is out – and, according to Waitrose’s latest food and drink report, the sometimes controversial green fruit is the most popular item for on-demand deliveryName: The emergency avocado.Age: New. Continue reading...

Comedian says he’s ‘more than willing to give you an audience but you will not summon me’ in apparent response to protestThe comedian Dave Chappelle has spoken out about backlash against his recent Netflix special, saying he would be open to meeting transgender employees of the streaming company but would not be “bending to anyone’s demands”.“To the transgender community, I’m more than willing to give you an audience,” Chappelle said in a video posted to his Instagram page on Monday. “But you will not summon me.” Continue reading...

Members of C of E such as archbishop of Canterbury tweeted their concern over draconian lawChurch leaders in the UK have strongly criticised Ghanaian bishops over their support for a draconian anti-LGBTQ+ law.Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the global Anglican church, Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York and other Church of England bishops tweeted their concerns on Tuesday in what appeared to be a coordinated effort to put pressure on their Ghanaian colleagues. Continue reading...

In this fascinatingly terrible Netflix show, presenter Saweetie cannot contain her cringing as sex-positive puppets masturbate constantly in front of her. What an agonising watchI blame myself, really. I have made repeated pleas in these pages that British people be entirely kept away from any shows about sex or anything remotely sex-adjacent, because of our inability to face cameras or genitals without collapsing in mortal embarrassment. In doing so, I implied that Americans were better suited to the job. I apologise unreservedly. For Sex: Unzipped, billed erroneously by Netflix as a comedy special and presented by rapper Saweetie, has been inflicted upon us all to give the lie to my under-researched claim.Saweetie is, especially for someone used to performing, fascinatingly terrible as a presenter. Uncomfortable, self-conscious and with a relentlessly flat delivery – it’s quite agonising. Perhaps she would be better off without the sex-positive puppets? Then again, perhaps we all would. Continue reading...

This gripping film from the makers of Free Solo and Meru digs deep to find out how the 2018 rescue of a junior football team was achievedCo-directors and extreme sports enthusiasts Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi have covered cliffhanging exploits with their documentaries Free Solo (about a solo ascent of Yosemite rock face El Capitan) and Meru (about a climb in the Himalayas). Their latest puts them up against a new challenge: making something at least somewhat cinematic about cave diving in the preternaturally dark, subterranean world it involves.Fortunately for them, their story revolves around the gripping drama that was the 2018 rescue effort to save 13 members of a Thai junior football team – 12 kids and their adult coach – who were trapped in a cave by an unexpected downpour. Not only is the story compelling, but thanks to how much the event captured the interest of the world’s media, there is a lot of archive footage to splice in among the generous wodges of talking-heads narration from the main participants. Continue reading...

Chancellor’s budget expected to give £30m to help secure events, plus extra £11m for men’s football World CupThe UK will aim to host the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup and the 2026 Tour de France Grand Départ, with the chancellor set to pledge £30m to support the bids.Rishi Sunak is expected to make the funding announcement in Wednesday’s budget and spending review, as well as an additional £11m towards a joint UK and Ireland bid for the men’s football World Cup in 2030. Continue reading...

‘Reprehensible’ response to Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry’s disappearance heightened family’s anguish, says Mina SmallmanThe mother of two murdered sisters has rejected the Metropolitan police’s apology over failings in how it responded when they were initially reported missing, calling the force “incompetent and reprehensible”.Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, were reported missing on Saturday 6 June 2020, the day before friends discovered their bodies in a park in Wembley, north London, after organising their own search party. Continue reading...

‘We have to state with outright certainty that what is being said about us is completely and utterly false,’ band members sayThe US rock band All Time Low have denied allegations of sexual misconduct made against the band, including that guitarist Jack Barakat sexually abused an underage girl, calling them “absolutely and unequivocally false”.Earlier this month, a woman posted a video on TikTok claiming that an unnamed famous pop-punk act had invited her on to their tour bus when she was 13. She alleged inappropriate behaviour, including attempts “to take my bra off for their nasty collection” and that they “offered me beers” and subsequently prank-called her friend. Continue reading...

To change course radically, the Coalition would have to admit that for a decade it traded the national interest for a handful of regional Queensland seats

IOPC says 66 officers and staff faced misconduct proceedings in England and Wales in past three yearsPolice officers and staff abusing their position for sexual gain is now the largest form of police corruption, a watchdog has said.The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) revealed the number of cases in England and Wales had “risen sharply” in the past three years, warning that perpetrators have “no place in policing”. Continue reading...

Labor likely to fiercely oppose bill in parliament over fears it may exclude legitimate ballots

Blaze on freighter ship has been largely contained, but officials won’t be able to determine damage amid wind and rainEmergency crews have largely contained a chemical fire aboard a container ship anchored off western Canada, but warned a looming “bomb cyclone” storm could complicate efforts to fully assess damage to the ship and surrounding marine ecosystem.The blaze broke out on Saturday aboard the MV Zim Kingston, a freighter ship carrying mining chemicals, including potassium amylxanthate – a hazardous substance used to help separate ores. Continue reading...

Hoyle says past chancellors would have resigned for ‘riding roughshod’ over MPs with pre-speech briefingsPast chancellors would have resigned for revealing details of the budget before the official statement, the Commons Speaker has told MPs, expressing fury at the briefing of a slew of measures to be announced on Wednesday.In a veiled reference to the former Labour chancellor Hugh Dalton, who resigned after telling a journalist about tax changes just before his 1947 budget, Lindsay Hoyle accused the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, of “riding roughshod” over MPs. Continue reading...

Analysis: democratic transition that followed 30 years of military rule only papered over faultlinesIn 2019, in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Sudan’s authoritarian leader Omar al-Bashir – who had himself seized power in a military-backed coup in 1989 – the potential for fissures in the country’s nascent political settlement were already obvious.As representatives of the country’s rebel movements sent delegations to the huge and sprawling public protests in Khartoum and students discussed the possibilities of democracy at coffee stalls set up on the pavement outside universities, the military – which had removed their backing from Bashir – was keeping a watchful eye with its soldiers manning checkpoints. Continue reading...

Immunologists say Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich is mistaken and vaccine misunderstandings persist

Fiona Harvey, Professor Saleemul Huq, Lucy Siegle, Hannah Martin, Professor Mary Gagen and Damian Carrington answered your questions on Cop26

Villa Aurora set to go on auction in January with opening bid of almost €500mA sprawling villa in Rome containing the only ceiling mural ever painted by the Italian master Caravaggio is being put up for sale for almost €500m (£422m).The 2.75-metre wide painting Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte in the 16th century to adorn the ceiling in what was his alchemy laboratory at Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi, better known as Villa Aurora. Continue reading...

An economic crisis aggravated by conflict and drought have caused a collapse in food security since the Taliban takeoverMore than half of Afghanistan’s population is facing acute hunger as the country has been thrown into one of the world’s largest food crises.Almost 23 million Afghans will be hungry due to conflict, drought and an economic downturn that is severely affecting livelihoods and people’s access to food as a harsh winter looms, the UN has warned; an increase of nearly 35% compared with last year. Continue reading...

Eight people have been arrested on suspicion of murder after teenagers’ deaths on SundayTwo boys who were killed in Essex in what detectives are treating as suspected murders were 16 years old, the local MP has said.Police were called to an address in Regency Court, Brentwood, at about 1.30am on Sunday. Three people were found injured at the scene and, two of them died. The third boy’s injuries were not life-threatening or life-changing, police said. Continue reading...

From a shocking drama set in the cut-throat world of Korea’s elite universities to a thriller about a time-travelling walkie talkie, here’s what to bingeReply 1988 begins in the year South Korea hosted the Olympics and follows the lives of five friends in the neighbourhood of Ssangmun-dong in northern Seoul: carefree Deok-sun, fellow trouble-maker Dong-ryong, model student Sun-woo, grumpy Jung-hwan and Choi Taek, a reserved Baduk (Go) player. Continue reading...

Valencia police seized 27 paintings by various artists being sold for €1.2m, 18 of which were crude forgeriesSix people have been jailed in the eastern Spanish region of Valencia after police broke up a criminal gang that was using the internet to sell crudely forged paintings attributed to artists including Francisco de Goya, José Benlliure y Gil and Nicolás Falcó.The investigation, carried out by officers from the historical heritage group of the Valencian police, began when doubts arose over the provenance of Falcó’s The Adoration of the Three Wise Men, which had been bought for €18,000 (£15,000) and was being resold for €45,000. Continue reading...

Joel Souza says actor was practising a scene at time of accidental shooting of Halyna HutchinsAlec Baldwin was practising a scene that involved him pointing a gun “towards the camera lens” when it accidentally went off, killing his director of photography, according to a written statement by the film’s director.The director, Joel Souza, said he heard what “sounded like a whip and then a loud pop”. He said he saw the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins clutch her midriff and stumble backwards. Souza noticed that he himself was bleeding from the right shoulder. Continue reading...

A surgeon dedicated to his patients, Chike Akunyili was on the frontline of people’s suffering. We must address the problems that drove his killers to pull a trigger just because they could

Financial and relationship woes caused by Covid in the UK are driving a rise in older people returning to live with family

Live stream from Seoul Olympic stadium

We envision two scenarios: what life could look like in 2050 if we do nothing, and what life could look like if we take action now. Watch this video to take a glimpse into the future and find out what you can do to prevent global climate catastrophe. There is still hope

Keith Pitt added to cabinet ahead of question time; Origin Energy fined $5m after allegedly charging prohibited exit fees; Morrison government will sign off on a regional transition package in exchange for Nationals’ support for climate emissions target; Victoria records 1,461 Covid cases, NSW 294. Follow the day’s developments live

Exclusive: some competitors say they feared they would die in 56C Sahara heat during six-day 250km raceIt is billed as the “toughest footrace on Earth”, the equivalent of five and half marathons in stifling desert heat.But runners at the Marathon des Sables have accused organisers of failing in their duty of care by letting the event go ahead in exceptionally high temperatures, and after a stomach bug swept through runners, as well as medical and support staff. Continue reading...

The Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to wreak havoc on the Canary island of La Palma. The eruption has continued for more than a month and is yet to show any sign of easing Continue reading...

Labour leader says councils should be allowed to use exclusion orders, in remarks echoed by Priti PatelCouncils should be allowed to use exclusion orders to stop anti-vaccine activists from protesting outside schools, Keir Starmer has said.The Labour leader said it was “sickening” that those against vaccinations were demonstrating where children are educated.

The outspoken comedian, actor and director talks about the state of comedy, his late friend Robin Williams and why Jerry Seinfeld has a problem with himThese days, Bobcat Goldthwait prefers not to do the voice. Anyone who knows his name probably knows that voice, a guttural yowl that makes him sound like a cartoon character being smashed with an oversized mallet. It made the comedian, film-maker and actor a star during his tenure in the Police Academy films back in the 80s, but no one wants to be reduced to a bit, and so he retired the quasi-persona in 2018.“It was a decision I made,” Goldthwait tells the Guardian on a phone call from Los Angeles. “I went back on the road after directing the Kimmel show, and I wasn’t looking forward to it … The voice didn’t suit me. But I know people, they’ve worked hard all week and that’s what they expect, so I probably perpetuated it a little longer than I should have. I was in Nashville, and I actually have footage of me going out for the first time, knowing I just couldn’t do the character. I have an OK set, but people in the audience were yelling, ‘Do the voice!’ It’s my daughter’s favorite heckle.” Continue reading...

With 26,700 artworks, this £235m tilting tower is a mighty tribute to the tormented Norwegian artistHow fitting that a building dedicated to the life and work of Edvard Munch may make you want to scream.The £235m mega museum of the tormented Norwegian artist stands as an ominous grey tower on the Oslo waterfront, lurching out at the top like a military lookout post, keeping watch over the fjord. It is a location scout’s dream for the ultimate villain’s headquarters, an almost comically menacing structure, bent over the pristine white iceberg of the city’s beloved opera house with a thuggish hunch. It may seem like an apt container for the tortured soul of Munch, whose shadow looms large over the city – but the anxiety-inducing effect wasn’t wholly intentional.

Two million to receive invitation for booster jab as figures for England suggest slight increase in uptake

Tributes pour in for ‘seventh friend’ who revealed he had stage 4 prostate cancer in 2021James Michael Tyler, most famous for playing Gunther, the manager of Central Perk in the hit sitcom Friends, has died aged 59.In an interview with NBC in June 2021, Tyler announced that he had stage 4 prostate cancer, which was diagnosed in 2018. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UK’s most senior gynaecologist is latest clinician to raise alarm about mounting Covid pressures

Friends and family pay tribute to the cinematographer as some attendees at vigil call for better safety protocolsSafety procedures on the New Mexico set of the movie Rust were under increasing scrutiny on Sunday as colleagues, friends and family paid tribute to the cinematographer shot dead by the actor Alec Baldwin in what appeared to be an accidental misfire.A vigil for Halyna Hutchins, the 42-year-old director of photography killed after Baldwin was handed a loaded revolver by the western’s production crew, took place in Albuquerque attended by industry professionals including a number of Hollywood actors including Jon Hamm and John Slattery, who are filming projects nearby. Continue reading...

Post-lockdown recovery has workers well placed to cash in on labour shortages by demanding higher wages

Andrew Shearer’s unreported meeting in April with Joe Biden’s top Indo-Pacific adviser may have been the clincher for the Aukus security agreement

Police appeal for witnesses after being called to address in Brentwood in early hours of Sunday morningEight people have been arrested on suspicion of murder after the deaths of two teenage boys in Essex.Essex police said officers were called to Regency Court in Brentwood at about 1.30am on Sunday and found that three people had been injured. Despite attempts to save them, two boys died. The third victim was treated for injuries, which police said were not life-threatening. Continue reading...

Envoys from 10 countries – including US, Germany and France – to be declared persona non grataA decision by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to declare 10 ambassadors – including those from seven Nato allies – as persona non grata threatens to open the biggest rift with the west during his two decades in power.Representatives from the US, Canada, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and New Zealand issued a joint statement earlier this week demanding the urgent release of Osman Kavala, a prominent businessman and philanthropist who has been held in pre-trial detention for more than four years on charges related to the 2013 Gezi park protests and the 2016 coup attempt. Continue reading...

Inquest in Kenya in 2019 concluded that Agnes Wanjiru, 21, ‘was murdered by British soldiers’The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, is facing calls to launch an investigation into a possible cover-up after no one was held responsible for the alleged killing of a 21-year old Kenyan woman by one or more off-duty British soldiers.John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, described the 2012 killing of Agnes Wanjiru, a sex worker, as “dreadful” and called for Wallace to “take this more seriously”. Continue reading...

Úsuga, one of South America’s most wanted men, arrested at rainforest hideout after massive manhuntColombia’s president, Iván Duque, has celebrated the downfall of “the most feared drug trafficker on Earth” after one of South America’s most wanted men was captured at his rainforest hideout following a massive manhunt involving hundreds of troops as well as US and British intelligence agencies.Dairo Antonio Úsuga, the 50-year-old head of the Clan del Golfo drug cartel, was arrested on Saturday afternoon after heavily armed operatives laid siege to the criminal’s jungle stomping ground in north-west Colombia. Continue reading...

Government says attacks carried out on training site and military manufacturing facilityEthiopia has carried out two airstrikes in Tigray as the government intensifies a nearly week-old campaign of aerial bombardment against the rebellious forces who control most of the region.One strike hit the western area of Mai Tsebri on Sunday, targeting a training site of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the government spokesperson Legesse Tulu said. The other hit a military manufacturing facility controlled by the TPLF in the northern town of Adwa, the government said in a statement. Continue reading...

The actor talks to his friend Edgar Wright about rooting for Roman, his ambition to move to London and why he’d like to have a crack at being Angela LansburyNew York-born actor Kieran Culkin, 39, made his film debut at the age of eight, alongside his elder brother Macaulay in Home Alone. While still a child he also had roles in Father of the Bride, The Mighty and The Cider House Rules. He later appeared in Music of the Heart, Igby Goes Down and Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs the World. He now stars as Roman Roy in HBO drama Succession, which returned to Sky Atlantic last week, a role for which he’s been Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated.One of the many reasons I love Succession is that I always think I’m watching “Evil Kieran”…

Vivacious, wealthy and charismatic, my mother threw an extravagant party for her 61st birthday. She then left her friends and 10 children and spent the rest of her life as a cloistered nunIt was like a beehive. A buzzing mass of 800 guests gathered around the queen, their larder of honey replaced by shrimp croquettes and caviar. It was 32 years ago when my mother, Ann Russell Miller, threw a combination 61st birthday and bon voyage party in the grand ballroom of a San Francisco hotel. Above her floated a balloon, tied to her wrist and emblazoned with the phrase: “Here I am.” She manoeuvred about, dressed elegantly in sparkling black. Her makeup was flawlessly applied, her hair expertly coiffed, her shoes chosen from hundreds of exquisite pairs. But this was her last formal outfit. She would never wear makeup again. The following day her hair would be shorn close to her scalp and forever hidden under a veil. For the next three decades she would wear the simple brown habit, with sandals or work shoes, befitting her new life as a cloistered nun.As the orchestra played the familiar strains of Happy Birthday, she could doubtless hear the echoes of birthdays past. The song played in Oregon and California during her youth. It was sung by her classmates at the Spence School on East 91st Street in New York. Her 21st birthday was spent newly married and five months pregnant. She would be in that condition more than 90 months of her life. By her 41st birthday she had completed her collection of five daughters and five sons. My father, who died when my mother was 55, was fond of saying that he had wanted 12 children and my mother wanted 10, so they compromised and had 10. She talked nearly nonstop on the telephone and in person. She had the exceedingly irritating ability to nap almost at will and wake up in such a manner as to make one doubt that she had been asleep at all. With charm and eccentricities to spare, she fairly skated through life with the benighted ease of the fabulously wealthy. Continue reading...

Allegations aired against senior figures include selective granting of citizenship and drug runningAllegations of systemic corruption, cronyism, jury intimidation and misuse of public funds are being aired in a courtroom in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) after the UK government set up a commission of inquiry into mis-governance in the British overseas territory.More than 50 lengthy public hearings, and voluminous written evidence, have revealed a dark underside to the BVI, one of the biggest tax havens in the world, as well as exposing a deep well of resentment among some of the Caribbean island’s politicians at the controls placed on them by London. Continue reading...

Chancellor also says ‘plan B’ Covid measures not needed yet despite expert views to the contrary